Social Media Listening Has Become Imperative for Brands, Leaders Say

 

Social media listening no longer is just an experiment by a few innovative brands. It’s now imperative for all brands, leaders in social media say. Social media monitoring has changed how brands conduct marketing and interact with customers. Organizations are using social media listening to respond to customer complaints, build loyalty, and improve their products and services.

Those were the key take-aways from business leaders at a webinar sponsored by Social Media Today.

A few years ago engaging customers on Twitter was a novelty. Now it is expected. Customers expect brands to respond to them – and quickly — in whatever channel the customer prefers. The ideal response time is ASAP. Webinar speakers said their goal is to respond within an hour.

Finding Customer Stories

Through social media listening, brands can find stories of customers and others using their products, and turn their stories into marketing windfalls.

By monitoring Twitter, Honda found a band that performed music in their Honda, said Lauren Harper, head of social strategy for the Oracle Marketing Cloud. Although the music wasn’t actually about its vehicle, Honda recognized the promotional benefit and arranged performances for the band.

Brands often listen for favorable posts they can share with consumers. However, negative posts also provide benefits. Don’t fear negative comments, Harper said. They can challenge brands to improve.

She said Oracle avoids entering conversations where people talk negatively about a competitor because “It’s playing with fire.”

Actionable Data Wanted

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) seeks actionable data from social media listening, said Nick Ayres, its global director for social marketing.

It listens to what customers are saying on Twitter, Facebook and hotel review sites about hotels in general, its own brand, and visits at its particular locations. It then translates those comments into operational improvements. For instance, a pattern of remarks about a poor sleep can lead to improving the quality of beds and pillows.

Guests tend to hashtag locations of some vacation hotels, such as beach resorts. Locations of more mundane resorts are more difficult to determine.

The emerging technology of visual listening may help marketers determine locations of social media posts. Solutions in that area may emerge in the next six to 12 months, offering opportunity for marketers, Ayres predicts.

Cox Media Group uses social media listening to locate news to report both locally and across the nation and world as well as to uncover trending topics, said Aprl Pilolli, its lead social media analyst. Though monitoring, it can learn what people are passionate about and what they’re talking about.

For instance, social media listening helped Cox spot the viral social media story “What color is the dress.” If a topic is popular on Twitter or Facebook, it will likely be popular on its news site.

In addition to marketing, companies have realized the public relations benefits of social media monitoring, such as preventing and managing crises, promoting events, communicating with employees and responding to breaking news.

Bottom Line: Social media listening is now mandatory for brands, according to leaders in social media. Social media monitoring has become a vital component of customer service and digital marketing. While their exact strategies differ, organizations monitor social media to find favorable mentions to share and negative comments to learn how to improve their products and services.